Vanhempainpäiväraha

Parental daily allowances are defined in the Health Insurance Act (sairausvakuutuslaki 1224/2004), chapter 9 of which governs parental daily allowances. The family-leave reform (HE 129/2021) that took effect on 1 January 2022 substantially changed the structure: the previous maternity/paternity/parental-leave model was replaced by a gender-neutral one in which both parents have, by default, an equal individual quota.

Parental daily allowances consist of three parts: pregnancy allowance (only for the pregnant parent, starts about 30 days before the estimated due date), special pregnancy allowance (if work poses a risk to the foetus and the employer cannot offer alternative work), and parental allowance (each parent's individual quota of about 160 days).

The benefit is granted by Kela, but many employers pay salary during parental leave under the relevant collective agreement — in that case Kela pays the daily allowance directly to the employer.

After the 2022 reform, each parent has their own quota of 160 working days of parental allowance, totalling 320 days per child. In a single-parent family one parent can receive all 320 days.

The quotas are intended to be used personally, but each parent can transfer at most 63 days to the other parent. This is a compromise: the reform aimed to encourage both parents to take leave, but a complete ban on transferring would have been politically difficult.

Parental allowance must be used by the time the child turns 2 years old. After that, entitlement lapses. Days can be taken flexibly — continuously, in several blocks or part-time (partial parental allowance, if you do part-time work alongside).

The amount is calculated from stable employment income. Generally the income of the 12 months before the parental-leave period is used. The daily allowance is approximately 70% of the daily income up to a threshold, above which the percentage decreases. The highest replacement applies up to about €26 of daily income.

The minimum daily allowance in 2026 is about €32/working day (e.g. for students who have not been in work). The benefit is paid 6 days a week, so the monthly minimum is about €832/month.

If the employer pays salary during parental leave (typically 30–90 days under the collective agreement), the parental daily allowance is paid directly to the employer; nothing of it appears in the applicant's account for that period.

A central requirement is the 180-day insurance period: parental daily allowance can only be paid if you have been health-insured in Finland for at least 180 days immediately before the child's estimated due date.

People who live permanently in Finland are usually insured automatically — Kela's decision on health insurance is made when you register as moving to Finland. If you moved to Finland less than half a year before the estimated due date, the benefit unfortunately is not paid — but you can apply for basic social assistance and child benefit, which do not require a long insurance period.

Insurance time in EU/EEA states counts towards the 180 days if you moved to Finland from another Member State. Request an A1 or S1 certificate from the previous Member State and submit it to Kela.

Parental daily allowance is one part of family welfare. Typical chronological order after the baby's birth:

1. Pregnancy allowance — starts 30 days before the estimated due date, lasts 40 working days.
2. Parental allowance — each parent's 160-day quota, used before the child's 2nd birthday.
3. Child benefit — starts as soon as you have applied for it after the child's birth. Paid monthly until age 17.
4. Home-care allowance — when the parental-allowance period ends and the child is cared for at home until age 3.
5. General housing allowance — for low-income families as rent support.

All of these are applied for from Kela, and their application data partly overlaps. Buronia helps to file them in one go so that the data is not contradictory between forms — a common cause of delays in processing.

Apply for parental daily allowance in OmaKela about 2 months before your first allowance day. The pregnancy allowance is worth applying for as soon as you have decided to take leave.

The application requires: a pregnancy certificate or the child's birth certificate, the employer's notice if salary is paid during the leave, and any payslips needed for calculating the stable income.

The decision usually arrives in about 2–4 weeks. If something is missing from the application, Kela will request additional information — this is the most common reason for delays, so make sure all attachments are in from the start.